ABSTRACT
This chapter positions diversity and inclusion as wicked problems for which the typical remedies are inadequate. This positioning enables scholars and practitioners to rethink diversity and inclusion efforts as naturally contradictory and messy rather than as rational and with singular solutions. A primary contention of the chapter, then, is that empathy, reflexivity, diversity, and inclusion are essential to human-centered design (HCD), and in turn, HCD is needed to make meaningful diversity and inclusion in organizational life. Diversity and inclusion may be perceived as contributing indirectly or actually antithetical to the overarching purposes (contributions to metrics that increase competitiveness, rankings of excellence, profit, and growth). Thus, the meaningfulness of diversity and inclusion work to make deep-seated change in ideological and institutional structures can only come about when people engage in HCD processes. Meaningful diversity and inclusion work necessitates co-design that pull people through iterative processes and prototypes toward seemingly unimagined futures.
